The Apicot Tree

For me, the apricot tree is the first herald of spring; and not just due to the childhood verse " popcorn popping on the apricot tree (although I do sing it each spring.  The blossoms of the apricot tree appear with the warming days of spring, and the renewal of memories.

On the mountain road to Brigham city, orchards are filled with trimmed and squared trees.  This process allows for the fruit to develop to its best potential.  My favorite trees are older trees most often found in gardens or on property lines.  They have grown with gnarled and twisted trunks sculpted by wind and weather.  Their untrimmed branches brush the sky.

Recently,  our Utah weather included rain, hail, slush, and large lazy snowflakes, and yes this was all in one day.  As the weather cleared, and the sun came out;  I walked in a friend's garden.  Her apricot tree old and gnarled was at the back of the yard near the property line.  It's branches covered in bloom framed our mountain, Ben Lomond.  Standing under its branches, I was surrounded by a storm of falling petals.

The blossoms of the apricot tree heralds the renewal of spring and memories.